I will reward whom ever can...

[zerounix]

I need to figure out what professional computer technicans use to check the computer for errors, like they Hook it up to the CPU and it runs a scan, and shows the stats on the monitor.. Please anyone with a link will be gratefully rewarded...

[zerounix]

Originally posted by zerounix
I need to figure out what professional computer technicans use to check the computer for errors, like they Hook it up to the CPU and it runs a scan, and shows the stats on the monitor.. Please anyone with a link will be gratefully rewarded...

Please someone anyone ? I am desperate.

[zerounix]

I figured it was diagnostic..

[nko]

As in hardware diagnostics, where you're testing actual chips while they're not being used?

[zerounix]

Originally posted by nko
As in hardware diagnostics, where you're testing actual chips while they're not being used?

I need a full diagnostic system, I am looking for something like a "mini" cube case with a diagnostic tester inside of it, I would like to be able to hook up a customers computer to the cube like CPU and have the tests read off on the monitor.. Any help on this diagnostic question would be grateful..

[banzaikai]

Howdy.

Boy, you really are new to all this, huh?

In order for you to hook one computer up to another to diagnose it, the other computer MUST be running! This, in itself, means the computer you're fixing is fixed.

Most of us in the biz have something like the following:

1) a spare mobo(s) for each kind of cpu package/pinout
2) a spare AT and ATX power supply
3) a spare video card (nothing fancy - I use a 1 MB PCI Trident)
4) a spare floppy, HD, CDR, and memory (all types)
5) optional spare sound, network, modem, etc.

All this because the nature of how they make things nowadays is similar to the old tube days - you're not so much a technician as a "card swapper". What sets you apart from the rest is your ability to track down the misbehaving part quickly and correctly.

Now, if the computer in question CAN post, then I just hook up a floppy and run something like "Quick Tech Pro" or "PC Check", et. al. These utils will do "burn in" tests as well as mobo and cpu functions. After that, you just swap out cards 'til something works.

I have a hard time remembering the last time I went inside a box with a soldering iron, or even a voltmeter...

banzai

[zerounix]

Originally posted by banzaikai
Howdy.

Boy, you really are new to all this, huh?

In order for you to hook one computer up to another to diagnose it, the other computer MUST be running! This, in itself, means the computer you're fixing is fixed.

Most of us in the biz have something like the following:

1) a spare mobo(s) for each kind of cpu package/pinout
2) a spare AT and ATX power supply
3) a spare video card (nothing fancy - I use a 1 MB PCI Trident)
4) a spare floppy, HD, CDR, and memory (all types)
5) optional spare sound, network, modem, etc.

All this because the nature of how they make things nowadays is similar to the old tube days - you're not so much a technician as a "card swapper". What sets you apart from the rest is your ability to track down the misbehaving part quickly and correctly.

Now, if the computer in question CAN post, then I just hook up a floppy and run something like "Quick Tech Pro" or "PC Check", et. al. These utils will do "burn in" tests as well as mobo and cpu functions. After that, you just swap out cards 'til something works.

I have a hard time remembering the last time I went inside a box with a soldering iron, or even a voltmeter...

banzai

Ok, and the hardware I was talking about was http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2733606435&category=162

[Hayl]

do you mean a Logic Probe ?

i had to buildone in an electronics class years and years ago.

[zerounix]

Originally posted by Hayl
do you mean a Logic Probe ?

i had to buildone in an electronics class years and years ago.

Logic Probe I have no clue what that may be.. I need something to run tests on computers, I would open the case up, install the mod inside run tests on the monitor have a "hex" code and look up the errors... then remove the chip and onto the next persons computer.

[cjanscen]

Are you insane? What are you doing here? Are you 13 or 14? Shouldn't you be at school?

And seriously go ask this on IRC or something.

[MB[DK]]

Netstat, ping, tracert, portmap, pcinfo, terminalprogram.


Not a hardware guy, these days my responsibilities are software distribution using Altiris deployment server, and software licensing. But I sometimes do network work, and then I use the programs above.

Uhh I almost forgot the cable tester, good piece of hardware.

[zerounix]

Originally posted by cjanscen
Are you insane? What are you doing here? Are you 13 or 14? Shouldn't you be at school?

And seriously go ask this on IRC or something.

No I'm sixteen thank you very much, I work, and I am home schooled. Please stick to the topic, IRC ? Yea all the idling freak's will help me alright. I do believe this is /dev/random. Hence the name "Off-Topic."

[MB[DK]]

Originally posted by zerounix
I am home schooled.

How does that work? Is it possible to get a sufficent education at home? Or is there a reason why you are at home? Don't feel pressured to answer, I'm just curious.

[shakin]

bonzaikai hit the nail on the head: computer technicians simply swap out hardware to test it on a known working system, so you check a CPU by booting it on a known good mainboard, test a monitor by plugging it into a known good system, etc

The device linked on ebay doesn't to much diagnostic work. My mainboard has one built in (MSI KTV4, I think). It'll only help you with a dead video card and other problems that most mainboards use beep codes to alert you about.

[zerounix]

Originally posted by MB[DK]
How does that work? Is it possible to get a sufficent education at home? Or is there a reason why you are at home? Don't feel pressured to answer, I'm just curious.

I do believe I do get an suffiacent education, I mean I went to public school, and all my work that the state sends me is much harder than school work. Everything is a grade above, 9th grade is 10th grade, 10th is 11th.. Ect.. I am also home schooled because both my parents were, they went off to college, and did fine I guess. I guess they are trying to make me follow in their footsteps to a certain point..

[AlexPlank]

I think you mean whoever.

[irlandes]

Originally posted by MB[DK]
How does that work? Is it possible to get a sufficent education at home? Or is there a reason why you are at home? Don't feel pressured to answer, I'm just curious.

Having some contact with home schooled kids, I feel qualified to answer this question.

The question is not if it is possible to get a sufficient education at home. The question is is it possible to get a sufficient education in the public schools, and the answer is: no.

In Lin-Mar School District, near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a few years ago, at a meeting of the school board, the teachers were venting about a law they resented. In Iowa, the home-schooled kids are, by law, required to be included with their local school district when the annual standardized progress tests are given (home schooled kids are required to take the same tests, annually.)

Iowa is one of the states which supply financial aid to school districts based on district performance on those annual tests.

And, the teachers were venting, ranting and raving how unfair it was "those home-schooled kids" were lumped in with them, thus reducing the financial aid received by the district.

Finally, the director of the Home Schooling Association got the floor, and said, "Before you debate this any more, perhaps you should know the home schooled kids in this district average at the 95th percentile when lumped in with the public school kids."

This means, for those who don't understand those words, the average kid schooled at home by (usually) his or her mom, who usually has no formal training in education, still performs as well as the top 5% of the kids in the public schools.

And, that means, the school district gets more bucks because the home schooled kids pull up the average performance of the district.

There was total silence, and not one teacher said another word on the topic. I guess I'd be ashamed, too, if I were a "highly trained teacher" and those chubby moms with no training at all, did a much better job with their kids, and not always studying all day every day, either.

Note that Lin-Mar is a high income, middle class school district, not some ghetto district.

The performance of home schoolers is so outstanding that today those who are willing to go to extreme lengths and expense to provide the very best education for thier kids WILL HOME SCHOOL THEM.

I realize the liars of the press and electronic media haven't told you this. In fact, they have tried to demonize home schoolers with wide publicity of any home schooling family which has some sort of problem. If you believe in truth and accurate information, you should resent being misled like this.

By the way, some may wonder how the home schoolers with no formal training know what and how to teach. There are quite a few home schooled kids in the U.S., about 5 or 6 years ago, the number doubled in one year. There are a significant number of businesses which sell a wide variety of programs for all ages.

Friends of mine were LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE fans. So their mom bought the entire program that year based on that show. There was LHOTP math; LHOTP science; LHOTP reading, writing, and grammar; LHOTP cooking and canning; etc. For summer vacation, they went to the Laura INgalls Wilder museum, I think it's in Missouri, but forget.

The next year, they were interested in the Pilgrims, so their mother bought the entire programs for them based on Pilgrims. And, for the summer vacation, they went to the East Coast and saw some of the locations and museums linked to the Pilgrims.

When they reached the limits of the high school program, young friends of mine taught themselves College math, with their dad, an engineer, helping them only when they had problems.

Several of the Ivy League Colleges (e.g. - Yale) reserve a few freshman slots for home schooled kids, because of the different viewpoint they bring to the campuses.

One objection is the lack of socialization in home schooling. This is another hoax generated by the liberals who want to brainwash all kids to their political agenda. Home schooling supplies superior socialization, and those kids usually fit into society very well, much better than the potty-mouthed, sarcastic, smart alecks we encounter when we are forced to go to a public school.

Parents whose kids started in public schools then switched later to home schooling report almost universal positive changes in their kids' attitudes. Home schoolers use the term "negative socialization" to describe what happens to kids in the public schools.

I could say more, but I am out of time.

[CMonster]

Home Schooling: This forum is supposed to be Linux related although it may be "off topic" i.e. not fitting easily into any of the other forum catagories.

As for PC diagnostics, did anyone mention the POST diagnostic cards that can be used to diagnose a "dead" PC? ->an example of one: http://www.protechdiagnostics.com/scripts/view.pl?page=toolstarboard

[futard]

Hi -

On Dell equipment there is a great set of diagnostics that run from the setup prompt. You can download them free from DELL for use on Dell equipment. Other major manufacturers also offer diagnostic packages for their equipment. Some Bios companies also distribute diagnostic apps for their mainboards and have options for generic testing of other components.

[evac-q8r]

I don't know a whole lot about that; however I have seen some computer technicians going around checking routers. I believe that they were checking routers with some sort of probing device in which you could hook up and the machine would spit out some numbers onto a small LCD screen. This was not for a CPU. I'm sure companies who construct motherboards could give you an answer. But you are aware that these machines are probably on the order of tens of thousands of dollars

EVAC

[futard]

Hmmmm -


Network diagnostic tools include sniffer (can easily be softyware on laptop), flike, and really expensive tbirds.

The PDA was originally designed to tftp configs up to routers and switches. This was easier than laptop / serial connections.

Microsoft does have some low level diagnostic tools available in the resource kit downloads. Good luck with those :)

[zerounix]

Originally posted by CMonster
Home Schooling: This forum is supposed to be Linux related although it may be "off topic" i.e. not fitting easily into any of the other forum catagories.

As for PC diagnostics, did anyone mention the POST diagnostic cards that can be used to diagnose a "dead" PC? ->an example of one: http://www.protechdiagnostics.com/scripts/view.pl?page=toolstarboard


Thanks for the link..

[dungscooperdave]

Originally posted by MB[DK]
How does that work? Is it possible to get a sufficent education at home? Or is there a reason why you are at home? Don't feel pressured to answer, I'm just curious.
That's funny... I'm also sixteen and I also homeschool....
Actually, I've only homeschooled the past couple of years, but I'm thinking of heading off to high school next year, mostly just because it gets boring staying at home all the time. It's quite simple how it works, though. You just order your school books/curriculum, and then start studying! That's pretty much all there is to it.